“I’m thankful there are children
watching at home who can finally
relate to a new Miss America.”
— Nina Davuluri, Miss American 2014
Our History
1920s
1920 Margaret Gorman is the winner of the “Inter-City Beauty” contest in Atlantic City, NJ, and is crowned the first Miss America.
1927 The pageant is canceled do to religious and women’s right advocates groups protesting on the boardwalk.
1930s
1933 The pageant is restarted only to close in 1934 due to The Great Depression.
1935 The pageant returns to the newly built the Boardwalk Convention Hall and has continued annually every year since.
1940s
1941 The Unites States enters into World War II. Rosemary La Planche begins a service endeavor that starts Miss America going on tour with the U.S.O. and selling War Bonds to the public.
1943 Miss America, Jean Bartel, suggests offering scholarships be awarded to the winners. This new incentive goes into effect during the 1945 competition.
1950s
1954 The ABC network televised the first live broadcast of the Miss America pageant.
1959 A quarter of a million dollars in scholarships were awarded to contestants on the local and state levels of the Miss America competition.
1980s
1983 Miss New York, Vanessa Williams, becomes the first African-American woman to win the Miss America title. In 1984 she resigned, and the crown was passed to the first place runner up, Suzette Charles of New Jersey.
1986 The pageant decides to stop printing the waist, hip, and bust measurements of its contestant into the show’s program.
1990s
1994 Heather Whitestone becomes the first Miss America winner with a disability.
1999 Nicole Johnson becomes the first Miss America with a life-threatening illness.
2000s
2002 Wayne Brady becomes the first African American host.
2004 The pageant celebrated 50 years on television.
2010s
2018 The pageant decided to no longer have the swimsuit portion of the competition.
2019 Miss America is no longer referred to as a pageant and is only referred to as a competition.
2020
2020 Rebranded into Minthena for its 100th
year celebration.
The Minthena brand has
evolved into one that can
reach a wider audience.
Our brand goals can touch a much larger audience. We should learn from our past in order to gain insights into achieving our best future. Our Brand Strategy offers a deeper understanding of our placement in today’s marketplace.